Multimodal Faculty Learning Community Meetings are informal community conversations around best practices for teaching and learning that typically occur on Fridays at Noon throughout CWU’s regular academic quarters.

Faculty present teaching experiences and techniques across the in-person, hybrid, and online modalities using various technologies and share best practices, take aways, or do overs. The sessions are recorded, and attendance will fulfill the Faculty Learning Community requirements of the Master Online Teacher Certificate (MOTC). Most sessions are led by CWU faculty, with occasional topic experts and industry leaders from outside the university.

All faculty are invited to bring their lunches and attend in-person in Samuelson or remotely via Zoom (registration links provided).

Other Faculty Community Links

• Reserve the Faculty Innovation Center (SAM165)
• Faculty Showcase for Innovative Teaching

Spring 2023 Schedule

Title:  Artificial Intelligence, Chat GPT Open Faculty Forums
Description: MML will continue to host a series of faculty forums on AI; May include faculty discussion, call to action or hands-on workshop of reworking assignment prompts
Presenter:   Open Faculty Forum, all faculty invited
Date:  TBD
Location: Samuelson 131 or remote Zoom
Registration Link (TBD)

Title:  The Possibility of Teacher Training with MetaVerse
Description: Dr. Naoki Suzuki shares experience using Virtual Reality and the MetaVerse in physical education teacher training.
Presenter:   Dr. Naoki Suzuki visiting professor from Tokyo Gakugei University
Date: Friday, April 3,  Noon-1pm
Location: Samuelson 131 or remote via Zoom
Registration Link 

Title:  TBD
Description: TBD
Presenter:   Dr. Taralynn Petrites, Faculty Fellow for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Assistant Professor of World Languages
Date: TBD
Location: Samuelson 131, or remote Zoom
Registration Link (TBD)

Title:  Faculty Showcase for Innovative Teaching 2023
Description: The annual opportunity for faculty to share innovative teaching strategies with each other. Presentations may be video, 3-minute lightning round or poster sessions.
Presenter:   This year there are 17 CWU Faculty with representation from each college.
Date: Friday, May 5, 2023, 4:00-5:30pm
Location: Samuelson 104 or remote Zoom
Registration Link 

Faculty Innovation Center

The new Faculty Innovation Center is now available for interdisciplinary faculty collaborations, small research discussions, or micro-conferences. The space has a kitchenette and patio. It can comfortably hold 25-30 people.
Reserve the CWU Faculty Innovation Center (Samuelson 165) 

Faculty Showcase for Innovative Teaching 2023

Each Spring Multimodal Learning hosts the Faculty Showcase for Innovative Teaching to highlight faculty teaching practices. The event gives faculty an opportunity to share their high impact practices with each other. Presentations are made in three formats that include a 3-minute lightning round, brief video created by MML staff and poster presentations. A Faculty Innovator of the Year award (with $500 stipend) is presented and two Innovative Excellence awards are presented at the event. This year we will also have a token Best Innovation Flop award. 

View the Inaugural Faculty Showcase for Innovative Teaching 2022

Proposals have been submitted and presentations are being prepared! 
Mark your calendar for Friday, May 5th, 4:00-5:30pm in SAM 104 or Online/Remote via Zoom
RSVP at the Registration Link to help us plan refreshments

General Timeline for the Faculty Showcase

• Call for Proposals late January
• Submission deadline Feb. 28, 2023
• March 1st Juding Complete
• Event and Showcase Awards Announced May 5, 2023, 

Fall 2022 Session Recordings

Title: Building Creative Assignments: Increase Student Engagement in All Modalities 
Description: With the pandemic causing a shift in thinking regarding modalities and learning styles, creativity and innovation become more vital for educators. This faculty learning committee meeting will discuss an innovative assignment utilized at both the undergraduate and graduate level in different modalities and how assessments were used to increase student engagement
Presenter:  Sean Dahlin, Program Director of Sport Managmeent, Director of Northwest Center for Sport, Assistant Professor in Sport and Movement Studies
Date: October 7, @Noon
Location: Samuelson 131 or remote via Zoom
Recording Link (login required)

Title: Ready to Pivot? Adapting Digital Tools to Multiple Modalities
Description: As we have moved through the different stages of the pandemic, teaching online, on Zoom, in-person, hybrid, and hyflex classes, we need digital tools that we can adapt to different modalities to help students engage with class readings, prepare for discussions, and participate in breakout groups. I will demonstrate how I adapt different instructional technologies, including Perusall for social annotation of digital readings, Canvas discussions for pre-class reading responses, and Class Notebook for collaborative notetaking during breakout groups. Participants will be able to share their own ideas for using digital tools in multiple modalities.
Presenter:  Chris Schedler, Chair and Professor, English Department
Date: October 21, @Noon
Location: Samuelson 131 or remote via Zoom
Recording Link (login required)

Title: Open Access at CWU: A full retrospecive of faculty articles
Description: Learn how the CWU Libraries has made every Open Access article published by CWU faculty available in our Institutional repository, ScholarWorks. CWU faculty publish valuable research and we are making it as widely accessible as possible. Learn about the project and the assessment to follow. Related LibGuide: Open Access by Maura Valentino
Presenter:  Maura Valetino, Associate Professor, Scholarly Communications Librarian, Digital Initiatives
Date: October 28 , @Noon
Location: Samuelson 131 or remote via Zoom
Recording Link (login required)

​Title: Place-based Learning Activities in Online Courses
Description: In this session we will discuss using hands-on accessibility audits as a tool for students to observe and assess their own environment and community.  Students locate and use tools and technology to assess local spaces based on the Americans with Disabilities act. They must explain the rationale for each ADA regulation in terms of impact on functioning of people with disabilities. The students document findings in a standard format, suggest potential solutions, and practice advocacy skills based on their findings This process could be easily applied in other fields using other tools and targets.  
Presenter:  Lynn Swedberg, CWU Accessibility Studies Faculty, Winner of the Faculty Innovation Showcase 2022
Date: November 4 , @Noon
Location: Samuelson 131 or remote via Zoom
Recording Link (login required)

​Title: Higher Ed, Meet Artificial Intelligence
Description: The increasing availability of writing and creative tools utilizing artificial intelligence introduces new opportunities and challenges for higher education. Join us for conversation with Ray Schroeder about the potential impacts of AI on teaching, research, and assessment and how we might re-vision these practices in light of technological change.    
Presenter:  Ray Schroeder, UPCEA Senior Fellow, UIS Professor Emeritus
Date: November 18 , @Noon
Location: Remote via Zoom
Recording Link (login required)

Winter 2023 Schedule

Title:  Canvas 2.0: How Faculty are Updating Their Course Design with DesignPLUS Design Tools
Description: CWU is piloting the DesignPLUS Canvas design tools. Faculty do not need to be designers or programmers to use the tools. During this Learning Community meeting Todd and Luke will show what they have done in their courses and MML there will be some templates available to import. 
Presenter:   Todd Weber (Business) and Luke Williams (ITAM)
Date: Friday, February 3, Noon-1pm
Location: Samuelson 129 or remote via Zoom
Recording Link (login required)

Title: The Flopped Classroom: A Path to Innovation
Description: Sometimes that great new idea doesn't turn out as expected. In this discussion we will explore what to do when innovation flops! Come ready to share, laugh and learn.
Presenter:  Facilitated by David Schwan, MML Faculty Fellow - multiple faculty panelists
Date: Friday, February 10th, Noon-1pm
Location: Samuelson 131 or remote via Zoom
 

Title: Faculty open forum on artificial intelligence in higher education
Description: Artificial intelligence has the potential to be transformative in many aspects of our lives.  While some faculty members have embraced the technology as a powerful tool for enhancing learning, others have expressed concerns about its potentially negative influence on students’ writing, creativity and critical-thinking skills.  Join Multimodal on Friday, February 10th at 2 pm, in Samuelson 131 or online, to have an open faculty conversation discussing the ongoing impact of accessible AI tools (e.g. OpenAI, ChatGPT, DALL-E) on teaching, assessment, and scholarship at CWU. Conversation may focus on developing campus policies, practical approaches to teaching and learning, new or experimental innovations, as well as concerns about the use and impact of such tools going forward.
Panelists: David Scwhan (Philosophy), Mike Pease (Geography), Dominic Klyve (Math), Mark Samples (Music)
Date: Friday, February 10th, 2pm - 3pm
Location: Samuelson 129 or remote
Recording Link 

Title: Faculty Open Forum: How should faculty adapt to generative artificial intelligence?
Description: Multimodal presents a second faculty discussion on the current and futures impacts of artificial intelligence on higher education. This Friday, February 24th at noon, we will be joined by faculty colleagues from across campus as they lead an open discussion on generative AI, how they plan to adjust to the technology in the near term and future, and how it may affect various aspects of higher education including teaching and learning. We encourage participants to voice their concerns, excitement, and curiosity, as well as share peer-to-peer knowledge. We hope to use this new information and our collective concerns to better guide thoughtful and intentional approaches that ensure CWU faculty can successfully navigate this potentially disruptive technology.
Presenters: You!
Date: Feb 24, 12-1
Location: Samuelson 131, online
Recording Link

Title: Why Learning Inventories Outperform SEOI's
Description: Beyond grades and SEOI that afford limited understanding of student achievement and teaching effectiveness, the Learning Inventory provides detailed insight into student learning challenges, strategies they use to learn, and outcomes students achieve that result from faculty instruction. Serving as a distinctive learning fingerprint for each class community, the Learning Inventory measures student readiness to learn, sensitively establishes a learning contour for each class, empowers faculty to offer community-driven responsive teaching customized to meet unique student needs, and provides a tangible metric of student learning growth and development over time. This interactive seminar showcases the Learning Inventory, compares its results to SEOI, and explores how to make more effective evidence-based improvements to teaching and learning.
Presenter:  Facilitated Ian Quitadamo, Faculty Fellow for the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning
Date: Friday, March 3, Noon-1pm
Location: Samuelson 129 or remote via Zoom
Recording Link (login required)

Recordings of Past Learning Community Meetings

Click the links below to view group descriptions and recordings of past presentations.

Academic Year 2021-2022 Recordings
Academic Year 2020-2021 Recordings
Faculty Symposia Recordings 2020-2022
Historical Explorers MLC 2010-2019
Historical Vanguard MLC 2010-2019